Mac != Automatically Safe (Take It From a Mac Fan!)

I love my Macbook Pro – ask anyone who knows me.

Before you Windows users leave thinking that this is YAFBR (Yet Another Fanboy Rant) you should all know that I believe strongly in using the right tool for the job – which does not always mean using the trusty Macbook, and sometimes using MS Windows instead (lord help me, but I said it and there is no taking it back). Sometimes it involves Linux or a BSD variant. I love them all for different reasons.

I am concerned with the number of Tweets I saw related to Conficker this morning that stated (not an exact quote) “Thank goodness I have a Mac – it is safer than a PC…Macs never get viruses” and other sentiments that denigrated MS Windows in a sometimes more, sometimes less manner.

Before you get too happy consider the information discussed at CanSecWest last week and published by Milw0rm prior to vendor notification. Check it out here (but come back!)

It is important to note that you are only as safe as your habits and software, Apple system or not.

I have worked a number of Apple forensics cases involving intrusion and interception of electronic communication. In each case the firewall was turned off (the user wasn’t aware of how to control the firewall) and there was an astounding lack of logging (the user didn’t know how to control or review logs on the Apple system).

I can also tell you that the number of these types of cases is definitely on the rise.

Here is a quick test: If your Apple (you can also insert Linux, *BSD, Windows) system was potentially compromised, how would you know? Can you pull up, right now, failed connection attempts, firewall logs, running process logs?

If not, then take that as your sign and make sure to get yourself battle-ready.

As bot-nets become more and more prevalent if you are not part of the solution you are truly a large part of the problem.